Birds Eye View — GreenStone Design

My folks came out to visit at the end of August last summer, 2025. They wanted to see the area and booked a flightseeing tour from Nimpo Lake. Unfortunately the wildfires north of Anahim Lake were making for very smoky skies. The tour was cancelled but tentatively booked again for a few days later.

A few days later we got to fly. Still smoky, but it ended up being the clearest day for a while.

The skies were still smoky, but there was some visibility, so we went. Despite the smoke, the scenery was stunning. We flew over the Rainbow Range, barely west of the fires.

We flew over “The Hill” - Highway 20 - and into the Coast Range where we saw Hunlen Falls and Turner Lake which we did a loop around so people on both sides of the aircraft could look down on them.

Flying over Highway 20 at the top of The Hill. Wildfire smoke lingers in the air but less so west of the plateau.

Then we got to fly over the glaciers in the coast mountains by Monarch Mountain. It’s truly spectacular to see, and, my happy place. I could explore out there for weeks on end.

Monarch Icefield with Mt. Jacobsen in the back right.

Smoke and window glare made for tricky photos but I could have flown for hours just gazing out and mapping the mountains and valleys in my head.

Definitely a flight worth taking. And all in my backyard.